His Shadows and Their Lights
by Kuroko8no8basuke
Summary: Who knew that Shadows and Lights were actual beings? Not me.
1. Chapter 1

Set in AU where everyone is in the same year unless specified.

* * *

"Kuroko, I would like you to meet your replacement; Mayuzumi Chihiro." The harsh words and commanding tone rang throughout the gym who's only occupants where the Generation of Miracles, their new Phantom Sixth Man and Kuroko Tetsuya.

"It is nice to meet you Mayuzumi-san." Kuroko responded bowing respectfully towards a smirking red-head and a grey haired boy with faint traces of mockery in his eyes.

"Leave, the Generation of Miracles are having a meeting and we don't need such trash disturbing us." Kuroko was once again unfazed by the cruel words as he bowed obediently once again before spinning on the ball of his foot and walking out.

He left so quietly that if you hadn't been watching him leave you would never have even known he was there. The remaining 6 paid no heed to the figure exiting though, but instead turned to their leader.

"We will split for our first year of high school to all train our powers, abilities and improve upon our weaknesses, and then we will regroup." Akashi commanded looking at each one of the small group with his scrutinizing gaze.

* * *

It was only a few days later into the school holidays when Kuroko first noticed it. If he was ever very focused or concentrated on something black shapes in the corners of his eyes would appear, the first few times he turned and looked only to find nothing there. He simply dismissed it as his mind playing tricks on him and didn't bother looking or worrying about it after about a week. But whatever he was expecting the shapes to be; this wasn't it.

Looking at the ragged black floating figure in front of him he didn't know what to do. It was shaped almost like a dragon with its long body hovering horizontally, visibly sharp talons at the end of its four paws and a large gaping mouth filled with lengthy thin teeth twisted into a malicious grin. What was scariest though were its eye sockets, despite them not having any eyes residing in them Kuroko felt like it was staring straight at him.

He stood blinking at it for a moment longer before he sighed, closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in slow circles. He breathed out again before opening his eyes to find that it wasn't a dream nor were his eyes deluding him.

"Who are you?" Kuroko barely managed to get out looking at it right where its eyes were supposed to be. He almost had to keep himself from throwing up since the air felt like it had thickened and was choking him as it traveled down his throat. It was so sickly sweet and hot that he had to breathe through his mouth as to not become dizzy.

It gave a throaty laugh before it slithered closer and wound itself around his shoulders. "My, you certainly are brave. Not once in my eternal lifetime has someone not fallen into deaths arms as soon as they've seen me." It said sliding around Kuroko's body so its head was only 10 centimeters away from his face. "I don't have what you humans call a 'name' nor 'species', so I'm afraid can't answer you Kuroko Tetsuya." It hissed out, coiling tight around his body cutting his air supply off for a moment.

"Can I give you a name then? I don't know what to think of you as otherwise." Kuroko asked as it gave a raspy chuckle.

"Oh how I've missed the audacity of humans, how foolishly brave and blinded by their ego they are." It rasped out and Kuroko felt that despite the situation he felt oddly comfortable with the other being as Kuroko took its answer as a yes.

Kuroko stood thinking for a minute trying to come up with a suitable name for such a creature. "What about Ryuu? And how do you know my name?" He asked.

"I have no qualms with it, why did you choose it though? As for your second question, I am an eternal being, it is my job to know all about you and every single thing that ever was and ever will be." 'Ryuu' answered once again coming closer to wrap himself around Kuroko.

"Ryuu means dragon and you look similar to a dragon, also because I could not think of another name." Kuroko admitted as Ryuu chuckled, the sound rough and throaty making his long body vibrate for a few seconds.

"I like you, you are not foolish nor do you think yourself above making mistakes or being wrong. I wonder how such a pure being came to be in such a filthy, tainted world of such disgusting humans." Ryuu wondered as Kuroko began to wonder as well, but for different reasons. How was he any different to the rest of his race?

"I do not think I quite understand what you are saying but thank you Ryuu-san. You are obviously not from here so why are you here with me?" Kuroko asked as Ryuu nuzzled against Kuroko's hand that had started absentmindedly patting him.

"My, well I guess you could call us a species after all, exist in another dimension. Humans who can see other dimensions might be able to see us depending on what plain of reality they're on but they'd die, you however are special and can see my kind without dying. Where I am currently in my dimension there are no others of my kind, I shall call on an ally of mine to truly test your power." Ryuu explained and a few seconds later another black tattered figure floated through the wall to the right of Kuroko.

"Is there anything I can assist you with?" It asked looking only at Ryuu assuming that Kuroko could not see him.

"Your presence here was more than enough, thank you." Ryuu answered not looking back at the figure who he was talking to see as he continued slithering around Kuroko's body.

"May I ask why you summoned me and what exactly are you doing?" The other floating figure asked. This one looked like a centaur with its four long, thin legs that were sharp at the ends and its arms that had large sharp claws at the ends. Its torso and face was not that of a man nor was his lower half of a horse but the overall shape was the same, his head was closest to the shape of large felines though the whiskers and cat mouth were both missing. There were two pairs of spiraling horns atop his head along with cats' ears on the sides of his head that twitched sporadically.

"I was simply testing this human. He can see us without dying, he's quite the find along with the fact that he is not like the rest of his human race." The word human was spat out with distaste as the other figure came closer to him.

"What are you planning on doing with it?" He asked prodding at Kuroko's cheek with a curved talon.

"I think I've become fond of him, he's even given me a 'name'. I won't eat him, I'll stay with him. I want to take him with me but I fear if I take him to our dimension he will be killed." Ryuu admitted sitting his head on top of Kuroko's shoulder as Kuroko looked up at the other figure.

"Can I give him a name too?" Kuroko asked looking up at the shadowy figure looming over him. They both chuckled at the almost childish tone as Kuroko continued to look up with his watery puppy eyes.

"I can see why you like him. Yes little human, you may 'name' me if you wish." He responded patting Kuroko's head lightly.

"Does Akira sound good?" Kuroko asked after a moment of silence. "What happened to the air before?" He added as an afterthought realizing that the air had thinned back out and returned to normal a while ago.

"When one of our kind enter your dimension we change things such as the air without meaning to, it helps the killing process if humans are about to die, I simply went back to my dimension. Our kind are death gods, we oversee all of the deaths in every dimension and universe and take the lives of said beings, since there are millions of deaths every second there are also a few trillion of us." Ryuu explained as Akira scowled at him not liking that he had been cut off when he was about to speak.

"Who controls life then? If you control death something had to look after life." Kuroko asked, his stomach growling softly as he blushed lightly before walking to his bedside table to grab some money as he was planning on heading to a convenience store because he knew he was out of food.

"You are quite the curious human, but yes you are on the right track; we do have an opposite but we are at war with them." Akira answered as Kuroko nodded while quickly fixing his hair.

"That does make sense if you are opposites." Kuroko mumbled, his opposite refused to even talk to him and the thought left him feeling empty and upset so he pushed it to the very back of his mind.

"What is the matter little one? You became sad suddenly." Ryuu asked slithering upwards so he rested around Kuroko's shoulders.

"It wasn't anything important, how can you tell?" Kuroko asked slipping into his shoes before he stopped short and looked up at both shadowy figures. "Are you both invisible to others? I do not wish for anyone to die." Kuroko asked while making sure he had everything with him.

"We are god-like in our power human, it would be odd for us not to be able to tell simple things like that. As for your other question; yes, you are the only one who can see us unless we come into your dimension but I assume from your previous words that you do not wish for us to swap dimensions." Akira explained as Kuroko began his way to the closest store.

Kuroko remained silent throughout the rest of thinking of battle tactics, strategies and what school he should go to. He had just finished at Teiko middle school and there was no way he would be attending he same school as one of the Generation of Miracles, it would be too painful.

He paid quickly and made his way out of the store but he got stuck at the automatic doors when the motion sensors wouldn't notice him, both Ryuu and Akira laughed quietly while Kuroko pouted. He was left standing there for about 15 minutes until another person came into the store, Lady Luck was obviously not on his side today.

* * *

Please leave a comment if there are any mistakes.

I do not own anything.


	2. Chapter 2

"So this is the school you're enrolled into?" Shou asked flying upwards to look over the school properly. Over the remainder of the holiday Kuroko had met 3 new Shadows; Shou, Tadashi and Hitoshi.

"Yes, it looks like a very nice school with a strong PC team." Kuroko answered as he passed a large sign at the front of the school reading 'Kirisaki Dai Ichi'.

Kuroko quickly made his way to the Power Combat team's stand and filled out a form, leaving it on the desk and disappearing before anyone could spot him. There were only two people sitting there; one had long light purple hair that covered his eyes and was blowing bubbles with his bubble gum and the other was asleep in his chair with an eye mask on to block out the light.

There were many boring introductions, speeches about the New Year that were supposed to be inspiring and get to know your new classmates games in which Kuroko was constantly forgotten, not that he'd complained. His Shadows had been making silly comments for the duration of the speeches and while new students told each other their hobbies and it kept Kuroko thoroughly amused and trying to hold in his laughter.

The end of the day did roll around eventually though and Kuroko made his way to the gym without getting lost (even though Shou, Tadashi and Akira helped a lot).

"First years line up." The coach ordered as they all lined up in the middle of the gym. "You only get 2 chances to prove yourselves good enough to join the team, there will be an individual try out for your skills and then a practice game against the first years that went to elementary school here, so you can test your teamwork." He announced as the first years began whispering among themselves.

"You can just disappear for the first test and then show up in the second, you can't do too much without an opponent." Hitoshi suggested from his spot on Kuroko's shoulder looking over the other fist years. "There are only a few here that actually have a chance at joining but they're already a part of the team because they went to this school previously." He reported hopping off Kuroko's shoulder to fly get a better look at the ones who were already in the team. "They are Hanamiya Makoto, Hara Kazuya, Seto Kentarou, Yamazaki Hiroshi and Furuhashi Koujirou."

Kuroko hummed in agreement before slipping away to the sidelines when the first test began, Hitoshi was right when he said not too many of them actually stood a chance, but maybe they were like him and played better in a game.  
It was over relatively quickly and Kuroko stepped back out on court when they were making teams for the game, the coach was a bit suspicious because he didn't remember Kuroko but put him in a team anyway.

"Did you hear? Apparently there's a kid from Teiko but he didn't show." A first year in Kuroko's team told his friend standing next to him.

"If he was from the Generation of Miracles he probably doesn't think he needs to come to practice." The other sneered as the rest of the team cringed at the mention of the Generation of Miracles.

"First years, where is your 5 player?" The coach yelled as the team began looking while Kuroko sighed.

"I'm right here." Kuroko said quietly, but loud enough to be heard and before long his entire team were screaming 'ghost'

"When did you get here?"

"I was here the whole time, can we please play now?" Kuroko asked looking at the coach that had jumped in fear.  
He blew the whistle and before the new first years even knew what was happening a strong gust of icy wind hit them, sending two flying and the other two rolling across the floor. Kuroko however had his eye on the opponent and ducked before it could hit him.  
He moved to the back left corner and watched as his team was slaughtered by the other first years, and by the time the score had reached 94-3 he was very bored.

"That's enough." The coach called as the last of Kuroko's team fainted from over use of their powers. Kuroko walked calmly of to the sidelines as his team was taken to first aid, he watched as the regulars came and sat on the same bench, unaware of his presence.

"They're really weak, but they tried to put up a fight." Kazuya commented after popping a bubble. "But I only saw 4 people on court; did the last one run away?" He mocked as Hanamiya looked around the gym.

"No, he didn't." He said with a smirk discovering Kuroko sitting next to him. "Where'd you go? It's mean to deny me the fun of breaking you." He asked childishly ruffling Kuroko's hair as the others all turned to look at Kuroko.

"Hanamiya Makoto, point guard, he is a genius in your world with an IQ well over 160. He has borderline sadistic tendencies and enjoys breaking his opponents' spirit." Tadashi reported from next to Kuroko, he was sitting on the floor but was leaning his head against Kuroko's thigh. During the holidays Kuroko had discovered that Shadows could float through things but could choose to touch something if they wanted.

"I was there the whole time." Kuroko answered looking up at him unblinkingly before pushing off his hand and turning to watch the coach talk to the other new first year teams completely dismissing Hanamiya.

Hanamiya and the rest of his team watched the boy closely before Hiroshi spoke. "Are you the kid from Teiko that everyone thought didn't show up?" He asked before taking a large drink of water.

"Yes." Kuroko answered as the other first years quieted to listen in on them. Whispers of _'but he's so small!'_, _'there's no way that kid was in Teiko's team, they wouldn't have even let him in the third string'_ and _'it's not like he played in games' _could be heard as Kuroko pretended not to notice.

"You didn't play in games though right?" Kazuya asked opening a packet of bubble gum, silencing the whispers as they waited for affirmation.

"I played in games." Kuroko replied vaguely as the first years and onlookers burst out with incredulous shouts of _'what?!' _making Kuroko's hand twitch.

"You don't like being thought of as weak." Seto commented noticing the small twitch along with Hanamiya.

"Not particularly, no one likes being thought of as not being able to pull their own weight." Kuroko confirmed.

* * *

"What's your power?" Furuhashi asked Kuroko as he changed the structure of his bones so his right arm became long and pointed. Kuroko had been paired with him during practice and they had to spar with each other to warm up.

"I can control shadows." Kuroko replied looking around the gym.

"What can you do with shadows?" He asked continuing turning his body into a weapon. Unfazed by the odd sight Kuroko continued looking until he found himself staring straight into the eyes of Hanamiya.

"It's exactly what it sounds like; I can move shadows and control them." Kuroko answered looking back at his partner.

"It doesn't sound like it does much." He commented offhandedly standing up and stretching before charging straight at Kuroko with a blade-like arm.  
Kuroko stepped to the side so Furuhashi couldn't slice him. Then he made his usually low presence diminish so he was invisible, watching as Furuhashi struggled to spot him. Kuroko moved the shadows from the benches and bleachers so they traveled up Furuhashi's face and over his eyes so he was blinded.

"What?" He asked clawing at his face trying to see again before he realized that his hands were still sword shaped and changed them back. Furuhashi began frantically looking around trying to find a way out of the endless blackness.  
Taking pity on him, Kuroko moved the shadows back but Furuhashi jolted backwards at the sudden light and fell onto his backside.

"Furuhashi, what are you doing on the floor?" Seto asked as he walked by the pair after being told that he had to participate.

He didn't answer but instead just got up on shaky legs and looked at Kuroko, Seto simply dismissed the odd behavior and continued walking.

"What was that?" Furuhashi asked as Kuroko gave him an almost sympathetic look.

"I apologize, but you were the one who underestimated me." Kuroko replied as a few other members of the team noticed they weren't practicing.

Unfortunately that also meant that the coach noticed their lack of sparring. "What are you two doing over there?" He yelled catching the attention of everyone who wasn't already watching.  
Kuroko looked upwards almost fearfully with big watery doe like eyes and Furuhashi couldn't help but feel obligated to protect the small boy.

"It was nothing, I was just being stupid." Furuhashi said with dead looking eyes covering for Kuroko who (subconsciously) half hid behind him.

"Then get back to practice!" He yelled before storming off only to shout at the other members of the team who'd also stopped to watch.

Kuroko turned back to Furuhashi oblivious to his previous actions and spoke softly. "Thank you Furuhashi-san, we should get back to practice now." He said as Furuhashi nodded and once again transformed.

* * *

I don't own any characters from Kuroko no Basuke.


	3. Chapter 3

I wanted to make it clear that Shadows can not be seen or heard by any one other than Kuroko because he alone has the power to see into their dimension.

* * *

"What made you come to this school?" Seto asked Kuroko as they began their pre-practice stretching.

"It seemed like a nice school and I needed a change of pace." Kuroko answered after a few seconds. "Why do you ask?" He questioned as Seto shrugged.

"Just curious, I thought that you would've gone with your old teammates, since you're most likely their rumored Phantom Sixth Player if you played in games with them." Seto replied as Kuroko stiffened.

"I'm not their Phantom Sixth Player, not anymore at least." Kuroko muttered just as Hanamiya walked past him.

"What do you mean anymore?" He asked towering over Kuroko as he realized he'd been caught.

"I was replaced by Mayuzumi Chihiro, their new Phantom. I believe he is currently attending Rakuzan with Akashi-kun." Kuroko answered with a tone of finality leaving the message that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Why would they replace you?" Hiroshi asked looking over his shoulder not caring about whether he wanted to talk about it or not.

"He found someone better and more efficient." Kuroko answered reaching down to touch his feet. Hanamiya watched with curiosity as he didn't even reach his shoelaces. _'He just keeps on surprising me, having an odd power and almost no physical skill at all. I'm not shocked they replaced him' _he thought.

"Who is 'he'?" Kazuya asked putting yet another piece of gum in his mouth.

"Akashi-kun, he discovered Mayuzumi's powers and decided he was better." Kuroko answered sighing as Kazuya dropped his gum wrapper on the ground. He walked over to the bench where Kazuya was sitting and picked up the wrapper before dropping it in the bin only a few feet away.

"Is that why you came here, to get revenge on them?" Furuhashi asked walking out of the change rooms as Kazuya grinned as he dropped another wrapper and watched as Kuroko once again picked it up and put it in the bin.

"I would like to get them to acknowledge my play style, but I don't think revenge would be the right term for it."

"Everyone, we have a practice game today. Get in the buses." The coach ordered surprising many of the team members. He loud shout stopped the whispers about the odd group of the regulars and the incredibly weak boy who'd claimed he'd played in games with the Generation of Miracles.

"Kuroko you're going to be playing in today's game." Hanamiya announced as everyone began making their way over to the buses. All at once many loud voices shouted _'what?!'_ as Kuroko nodded silently.

The ride to their oppositions' school was deathly quiet with many of the team openly glaring at Kuroko who paid them no heed and continued to read his book. He'd gotten many looks just like them over the years from teams who thought the Generation of Miracles looked down on them so much that they'd send in such a weak looking student.

* * *

The opposing school was nothing special; they could barely even be called an opponent whilst playing against Kirisaki Dai Ichi. Never the less Hanamiya still swapped with Kuroko to sit on the bench, he really wanted to see what Kuroko could do in action. He never got a chance after Kuroko sparred with Furuhashi for the first time since Kuroko had disappeared before he could be paired up for sparring again. Hanamiya had also taken precautions to make sure that Kuroko would actually participate threatening that if he didn't he'd be kicked off the team.

The second half started with Hiroshi sending out ear spitting sound waves that had the other team writhing in pain. Before they had a chance to recover, Kazuya had wind sending 2 rolling and 3 stumbling to regain their balance. The first one to recover on the opposing side sent a large wave of water back at them and Furuhashi, despite knowing it wouldn't do that much put up a barrier.  
What Furuhashi wasn't counting on though, was for Kuroko to take his shadow and make it copy his attack. With the force field being at double strength it easily stopped the all the water and sent a large amount of it back from the force it hit the barrier with.  
Everyone on court was shocked by the unexpected move but Seto recovered quickly and used his ability to create and control psychic weapons to knock them all off balance. Kirisaki Dai Ichi split up after that making the court 5 separate one-on-ones.  
They forgot about Kuroko though, so he was left standing there while Hitoshi and Kazuya both took care of the extra person as well as theirs. Kuroko didn't mind not having anyone to fight but a _'you better get in there and fight' _look from Hanamiya made him rethink his decision.  
Kuroko slowly separated his mark from the rest of the group without anyone noticing and to his surprise he saw a small white button attached to the inside of his wrist by a clear wristband. It is more commonly known among players as the 'bail button', only one member of the team has one and they press it if they or a teammate wants to forfeit the game. However if a member of the opposing team manages to press the button they win the game by default.  
Kuroko's mark finally seemed to notice that he was away from the rest of the group but before he could run back to them Kuroko controlled his shadow so it stayed still, in turn making him trip over. He looked around trying to find who'd stuck his foot to the ground but his eyes completely missed Kuroko as they passed over him. Just when he was about to call for help from his teammates Kuroko sent shadows to cover his mouth making him unable to talk.  
Kuroko then took the shadows away making Hanamiya sneer before a small amount suddenly entered his open mouth. They took over his nerve system and they entirety of his body stopping all 5 of his senses from working, the only thing that he could feel was his right hand and the button on his left wrist courtesy of Kuroko.  
In the span 30 seconds that Kuroko separated him from his group he'd felt like he'd gone through hell and back and before anyone could even notice what had happened to him he pressed the button.  
Loud blaring alarms went off and everyone's heads swiveled to the missing player to find him frantically looking around but with his eyes registering nothing. Kuroko released the shadows from his body as his teammates, coach and the referee all ran over but he still remained unresponsive.

"Masuda-san can you hear me?" His coach asked shaking 'Masuda's' shoulders as Kuroko ran away over to his teams' bench while everyone was distracted.

"Impressive, you probably broke a record or two getting him to press the button so fast." Hanamiya commented coming to sit next to Kuroko as the rest of the regulars also came to sit with their other regular.

"Thank you Hanamiya-san, but that was actually quite slow for me." Kuroko replied as Hanamiya raised an amused eyebrow.

"What is an estimate of you fastest time then?" He asked watching as the rest of the group picked up on their conversation.

"About 1 and a half seconds, I can go faster but I haven't needed to. During middle school when one team realized they'd be up against us they pressed the button before the starting alarm even went off." Kuroko commented as the regulars looked at him in amusement and astonishment.

"How did you get him to press it anyway? I didn't see." Kazuya asked as Akira muttered _'I'm surprised that human can see anything through all of that revolting hair' _from his spot on Kuroko's shoulder. During the holidays Kuroko also discovered that Shadows could shrink and change their bodies at will. Kuroko chuckled quietly at his snide remark earning him a questioning look from Seto who was sitting closest to him.

"I just used my shadows." Kuroko answered vaguely pretending not to notice Seto's curious gaze.

"What else can you do if you make them go inside someone's body?" Hanamiya asked answering Kazuya's question at the same time.

"Apart from taking away their senses I can make them see things that aren't there, change their memories temporarily or I can just take over their bodies completely and make them do whatever I want." Kuroko answered nonchalantly as if it was no big deal.

"You could make an army, hell you could even take over the world!" Hiroshi said astounded as Kuroko took a large drink of water.

"In theory yes, but some people are harder to control then others. He was weak." Kuroko said bluntly, gesturing to Masuda who'd finally become responsive and was having a panic attack in the back ground.

"So that won't necessarily work on everyone?" Furuhashi asked remembering back to when Kuroko had blinded him.

"No, I have never met someone I haven't been able to control but it would take time and information if they were resistant to mental attacks. They will all submit eventually, it just takes patience, the problem is getting into their minds but after that it's fine." Kuroko explained as their coach yelled for them to get back on the buses.

"Why didn't you just bind his hands and press the button yourself?" Hiroshi asked after they'd boarded the bus and sat right at the back.

"Hanamiya-san preferred what I did." Kuroko responded leaving the regulars with more questions than answers.

"Why would that matter and how would you know that?" Seto asked suspiciously. They'd been more than careful to hide their least than pleasant sides while in front of Kuroko and made sure that none of the other players mentioned it either.

"Observing people is one of my past times; it is easy to find out things about people if you know what to look for." Kuroko answered affirming their suspicions that he did in fact know.

"You said earlier that some people are more susceptible to mental attacks than others, can you train their minds to be stronger?" Hanamiya asked after a long period of silence.

"Yes, I did it with my old teammates. We can do it during practice if you'd like." Kuroko suggested turning to look at Hanamiya who sat to his left.

"That sounds good." Hanamiya responded ruffling Kuroko's hair.

"Please stop Hanamiya-san; you know I do not like it when you do that." Kuroko said trying to pry the hand off head to no avail.

"Call me Hanamiya from now on and we have a deal." He bargained messing up Kuroko's hair even more while digging his fingertips into his scalp softly.

After a moment of silence Kuroko replied. "I think I can live with messy hair for the rest of the day."

"Don't make me be mean~" Hanamiya warned digging his fingers in slightly harder.

"You are mean by nature; I don't have to do anything." Kuroko said looking back out of the window.

Hanamiya didn't reply but started tugging and pulling on Kuroko's hair trying to get a response. "That hurts." Kuroko commented looking up at him from under his bangs.

"Just one word, that's all you have to say." Hanamiya tempted as Kuroko sighed.

"Please stop it." Kuroko pleaded once more but when Hanamiya didn't stop he mumbled something quietly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you~" Hanamiya said gleefully realizing that he'd given in. Kuroko muttered something quietly again but Hanamiya shook his head. "I have to hear you say it." He said punctuating each word with a sharp tug of Kuroko's hair.

"Hanamiya, please stop it." Kuroko requested just as a lull passed over the bus meaning everyone heard his words.

"What are you doing to our poor Tetsu-chan back there?" Kazuya asked with a hidden undertone of wicked humor as he turned around in his seat resting his forearms on his head rest as did Hiroshi who was sitting on the opposite side of bus. The majority of the buses' passengers also turned around in their seats; among them were Furuhashi, Seto who'd sat next to Hiroshi and Kazuya respectively and their coach.

"I wasn't doing anything~" Hanamiya responded giving Kuroko's hair one more ruffle for good measure before taking his hand away from soft baby blue locks.  
Laughter bubbled uncontrollably in the back of Kazuya's, Seto's and Hanamiya's throats as they saw what the result of messing up Kuroko's hair was.  
It stuck up in every direction defying gravity and the small pout on Kuroko's face as he attempted to fix it completed the look. Hysteric laughter soon burst out of Kazuya followed by Hanamiya and Seto chuckling in amusement. Kuroko sighed and turned to his window checking his reflection to try and fix his hair but all it did was make it messier, if that was even possible.

"Come here." Hanamiya ordered with a chuckle as Kuroko turned to face him. His hands found their way back into silky locks and began taming the wild strands down with oddly soft and comforting strokes. Noticing Kuroko had closed his eyes and was lightly pressing into his hands Hanamiya decided to have some fun. He took away his hands slowly and was rewarded with a soft sound that was a mix between a sigh and moan. "Having fun Tetsuya~?" He purred leaning down to Kuroko's ear as his eyes snapped open.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kuroko denied quietly turning his back on Hanamiya to look out the window. Kazuya and Seto both shrugged off their captain's odd behavior and turned around in their seats.

"Tetsu is mine." A quiet whisper came from Ryuu who'd wrapped himself around Kuroko's shoulders and was growling at Hanamiya lowly.

* * *

I don't known any characters from Kuroko no Basuke.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oi, what the 'ell do you kids think you're doin'?" Kirisaki Dai Ichi's coach yelled storming over to the small group of regulars who'd decided it was as good as time as any to strengthen their minds in case the ever ran into Mayuzumi on the court.

Hanamiya rolled his eyes before turning to face their coach. "Can I please talk to you outside for a moment?" He asked gesturing to the gym door with uncharacteristic but still fake innocence.  
The coach nodded gruffly and followed Hanamiya outside and Kuroko turned back but to his teammates only to find them grinning or snickering.

"What is funny?" He asked confused tilting his head like a small lost puppy.

"You need to stop it with that face or something bad is gonna happen." Hiroshi warned poking Kuroko in the middle of his forehead making his mind even more muddled trying to figure out the meaning of Hiroshi's words. "It just that coach is gonna get it now, Hanamiya never liked him and judging by that look we're gonna have Hanamiya as a coach by next practice." He said smirking, looking satisfied as he leaned back and crossed his arms.  
Kuroko nodded and watched as Hanamiya came in after a few minutes with the same contented look on his face when the coach didn't follow in after him.

* * *

Kuroko liked watching people. Some might say it is odd or that it even borders on being creepy but to Kuroko it was a rather fond pastime. He could sit in a busy cafe or bustling train station for hours simply watching people and learning all about their lives. House cleaners, yoga instructors, professional sportsmen, artists, even the occasional criminals, he'd seen them all.  
He didn't understand why other people couldn't notice the things he did when he was young but soon came to accept that he was just different. They wouldn't notice the teacher walking past who just got fired from his job or the nurse who aspired to be a pianist. It didn't matter that others weren't as observant because he wasn't around other humans for a lot of time anyway, that or they just didn't realize he was there.

He was sitting in a joint cafe and book store in a booth tucked away into the corner of the room, which despite being so far back had a great view of the lively street outside. It was by far his favorite spot to observe people because he could nestle up to the heater vent that was behind his seat. There was also an unbelievable amount of books if the crowds ever dissipated, and as a bonus they served a variety of hot vanilla drinks.

"Huh? What are doing here Kuro-chan?" Hiroshi asked surprised from the seat across him, he'd obviously not seen him when he sat down.

"I'm people watching." Kuroko replied, almost upset that his view of the crowd had been blocked. Hiroshi seemed to realize quickly though and he moved slightly to the right so Kuroko could see past him. "Thank you."

Hiroshi watched Kuroko as he peered past him with calculating but calm eyes, he looked down and found a book open on the table facing Kuroko. He swiveled so he could read it and flipped the book cover over to see the title, 'Human Motions' it read.  
"What are those for?" Hiroshi asked curiously noticing the small notebook and pen Kuroko also had with him.

"I take those with me when I observe people to write notes if I find something interesting." Kuroko responded curling his left hand around his warm cup while writing something down in the notebook that now with closer inspection looked well used. "There are millions of tiny movements made by humans that they don't realize, but they give their motives and future movements away." Kuroko added as Hiroshi also turned around in his seat to watch the crowd.

"So you can know things about people by just looking at them?" He asked scared for his own privacy.

"Yes, see that man in the blue coat? In 7 seconds he will attempt to take the purse of the woman with a red umbrella but be stopped by another man with brown hair." Kuroko predicted and exactly 7 seconds later he did try to take the purse and just as Kuroko also foreshadowed, he's attempts were thwarted.

"Whoa, can you can see the future or something?" He asked, getting confused looks from the other customers, more for the noise level than anything else because powers like those are rare but not too surprising.

Kuroko sighed in exasperation; he felt like he was talking to an excited child with a bad memory. "I can only judge people by their actions and movements; they're like an open book for anyone to read if they know what to look for." Kuroko explained watching as Hiroshi's face turned into one of awe.

"Is that how you figured out what we're really like?" He asked leaning on his elbow that he'd propped up on the table when he'd turned back around.

"Yes."

* * *

"Kuroko-chi!"

The shout echoed through Kirisaki's gym as heads all turned to the loud noise and yelling from elated girls. Said phantom was practicing his powers when he discovered he could turn into a shadow and was currently only a shadow on the gym floor. The blonde haired boy looked around excitedly before sighting the lone shadow with no physical being attached on the gym floor. He ran over with a sound that sounded half way between a high-pitched squeal and upset whine, while the bystanders were left wondering how one managed to make such a sound.

"Kuroko-chi!" He yelled running over with crocodile tears streaming down his face. He'd obviously forgotten that Kuroko was 2D and somewhat stuck to the floor -unless he wanted to get up-, since he'd kissed the ground (with his entire face mind you) only a few inches away from Kuroko's face when he'd tried to grab him. "Kuroko-chi, that's mean but I'll forgive you since I haven't seen you in ages, just come out." He pleaded clawing at the ground trying to persuade Kuroko to regain his physical form so he could hug him.

"Oh shut up you disgustingly loud creature." The order came from Akira who as Kuroko had discovered, hated loud noises, especially those made by humans. Akira was sitting on his head in the shape of a puppy, Hitoshi was sitting on his shoulder the size of a doll, Ryuu was curled around his forearm like a bangle, Tadashi was floating next to him and Shou was sitting atop the backboard.

The rest of team watched silently, '_just how much control does Kuroko have over his guy? He's practically begging for him' _they thought watching his face light up when Kuroko's black opaque form nodded.

Kuroko's right hand came upwards to his face before it broke through the barrier between the two dimensions. Kise happily grabbed the two pale fingers poking out of the ground before standing up to his full height and pulling them up to his chest, successfully ripping Kuroko out of the Shadow dimension and back into his.

"I missed you so much!" He wailed clutching onto the smaller form and squeezing him so hard that the rest of this team could start to see his face become red for a lack of air.

If Kuroko hadn't ordered them not to previously Ryuu, Tadashi and Shou would've crossed dimensions and ripped his head off for hurting Kuroko, who they had become _very _fond of over the short period of time.

Kazuya walked over and tried prying the blonde off Kuroko but he wouldn't budge and when he was about to attempt it again the larger form turned to face and him, growling. It was low and throaty and for a second Kazuya was scared that he'd try and bite his arm off judging from the feral glare that was sent his way. If looks could kill he'd be long gone by now.

"Kise-kun, please let go." Kuroko wheezed out hitting him on the back to gain his attention.

"Ah! I'm so sorry Kuroko-chi, I just got excited. I was really worried when you disappeared, not even Momoi-chi could find you." He said holding the boy at arm's length, still not letting go in (irrational) fear that he would disappear.

"Ah, everyone this is Kise-kun, he was a teammate of mine in middle school." Kuroko said not even trying to break away from the firm hold knowing from experience that Kise would find a way to grab him again.

"As in Kise Ryouta? The model and copycat of the Generation of Miracles?" Some asked from the back.

"He looks weak just like the rest of you pitiful humans, apart from you Kuro~" Tadashi said wrapping his two black tendrils around Kuroko's shoulders in his way of hugging.

Kise scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm not as good as the others, I only started in my second year and I'm the worst. Kuroko-chi and I always got picked on because we're the weakest." He admitted.

"Please do not lie Kise-kun, I was never bullied." Kuroko said bluntly making more crocodile tears pour out of the models eyes.

"It was just me?" He wailed clutching Kuroko closer oblivious to the odd looks he was getting from Kuroko's team. Suddenly he became very serious and looked Kuroko right in the eyes. "Come to Kaijou with me."

"What would Akashi-san say?" Kuroko asked raising an eyebrow.

"I. . ." Kise trailed off having not thought about it. "I don't know, but we'll think of something. Please Kuroko-chi?" He was kneeling on the floor now begging, looking like he might propose.

"Akashi-san would not be happy about it and I can't let Kise-kun get himself into trouble." Kuroko declined stepping out of his hold. "It would give you a bad reputation in the future if you were to be kicked out of the Generation of Miracles." He reasoned shaking his head.

"Just I miss Kuroko-chi so much! I hate Mayuz-" Kise cut himself off knowing it was a touchy subject with Kuroko.

"You don't need to pretend like it didn't happen Kise-kun." Kuroko reminded. "Can you please sit on one of the benches? If you wish to stay you have to sit over there, my team and I are still in practice." He asked changing the subject quickly despite saying that Kise didn't have to edge around the topic.

* * *

I don't known any characters from Kuroko no Basuke.


	5. Chapter 5

"I've missed Kuroko-chi so much but you're just going to ditch me?" Kise cried as Kuroko attempted to walk out of the gym after he and his team had gotten changed after practice.

"I have homework to do." Kuroko lied; he didn't need Kise stalking the animal shelter he worked at.

"Then I'll come and help you with it." He retorted, Kuroko wasn't going to get out of this one easily, not after disappearing for so long without any contact.

"Don't you have basketball training or something?" Kazuya asked noticing Kuroko's hesitance to let him come along.

"Yes, but I really wanted to come see Kuroko-chi today." He whined clinging to Kuroko's forearm as he tried to pry him off.

"He has a modeling job he's forgotten about, the filth should remember if you mention it." Shou said reading off what looked like a black tablet. Shadows had all sorts of technology from various universes that they used and Kuroko learnt it was better to just go along with the flow than to question.

"What about your modeling Kise-kun? In middle school you seemed to always have a job after school." Kuroko asked slowly but surely unfurling the hand wrapped around his arm.

Kise jolted with a squeak. "Kuroko-chi is right! I have a job now, how could I forget?" He wailed before hugging Kuroko one last time before running out of the gym. "I'll come get you one day Kuroko-chi!" He yelled turning around with a wave before running off again.

"Please, please, please tell me that the rest of the Generation of Miracles aren't like that." Seto pleaded as they watched blonde hair disappear into the distance.

"No they aren't but they are all . . . different."

"What are they like?" Furuhashi asked as they began walking to the front gate.

"Aomine-kun is a big pervert and very lazy, Midorima-kun has an addiction with Oha Asa and taping his left hand, Murasakibara-kun is like a child with _many_ screws loose and he loves snacks and Akashi-san has a God-complex and believes it impossible for him to lose."

"Your old teammates sound down right crazy." Added Kazuya as they neared the gates as the sun began to set in the back ground.

"Yes, they probably are, but in one way or another we are all crazy are we not?"

* * *

Kuroko had been sitting in the gym while the rest of his team also practiced their powers, testing and experimenting with his powers when he got an idea.

"Akira." He whispered as said Shadow looked at him before floating over. "Can you tell me if there are any other things I can do?"

"Sorry Tet-chan, we aren't allowed to tamper with the future by telling humans things like that."

Kuroko nodded minutely as to not draw attention to himself before focusing back on thinking of other things that he could work on. His eyes strayed to Hanamiya who was training with Furuhashi and his eyes were drawn to their shadows. He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't having a hallucination because it looked like one of them was looking his way but that couldn't be right because they didn't have faces.  
He stood up as if in a trance and walked over looking at both of their shadows. He crouched next to Furuhashi and placed his palm on the floor and Furuhashi's shadow's hand placed itself right under his as if he was hi-fiving him. He broke out of the trance and looked up to see Furuhashi's hand stuck upwards in an odd position so his shadow's hand would land on Kuroko. What was odd though was that there were two shadows coming from Furuhashi, one was a normal shadow casted by the sun but the second was more like the Shadows that Kuroko saw in the other dimension.

"Are you feeling alright Tetsuya?" Hanamiya asked crouching down to his level and patting him on the head.

"Ah, yes, thank you for asking." He replied politely standing up after the blurry haze in his sight resided. "I apologize for disrupting your training." Kuroko added bowing towards the pair as Furuhashi's arm went limp and dropped to his side.

"How did you do that?" Furuhashi asked rubbing his wrist then moving upwards to his elbow.

"Do what, Furuhashi-san?" Kuroko asked with a tilt of his head.

"Hiroshi warned you about doing that, you can't blame us if something happens to you later~." Kazuya said while walking past and giving Kuroko's hair a ruffle.

"You made my arm move." Furuhashi answered completely ignoring the obscene implications of Kazuya's words.

"I apologize but I did no such thing." Kuroko said bowing again but with a thoughtful spark in his eyes. "But maybe. . ." He trailed off looking back to the floor where the two shadows had merged back into one.

"Did you make his shadow move? 'Cause you can't really move one without the other moving too." Kazuya asked from a few feet away where he'd continued to watch the trio.

"No, I didn't, it moved to me. I didn't even have to say anything." Kuroko responded astounded. "Come over here please." He requested looking once again at Furuhashi's shadow.  
It stretched its arms to him but it was unable to reach Kuroko so it walked forward, successfully making Furuhashi's body move against his will also.

"Wow." Kazuya breathed out watching Furuhashi move almost as if he was a puppet on strings. "That's pretty creepy."

"Scary yes but it also has other uses by the looks of it." Hanamiya said walking over to Furuhashi before attempting to push him over. All it did though was make his Shadow flare up and become larger in anger for trying to disrupt it. "This combined with his ability to control people's body means that we could completely control our opponents and make them fight each other."

"Yes, we could." Kuroko affirmed quietly bending down to pat the Shadow on the head. "Thank you for helping me."

The Shadow slid up the tips of Kuroko's fingers so it looked like he'd painted the palm of his hand black. Kuroko chuckled quietly at the attempt at holding hands and took the Shadow with both hands. He was careful not to lift his hands too far away from the ground in case it slipped back onto the floor.  
The Shadow flared up again but this time it was in happiness as Kuroko realized that once again the two shadows coming from Furuhashi's body had separated.

"Can you speak?" Kuroko asked rubbing his thumb back and forth of the Shadows hand where it's knuckles were supposed to be. He'd learnt that the little things like welcoming touches had a big effect on people and hey, who said it wouldn't work on Shadows too? By the looks of it, it was a conscious being that was able to have emotions and act accordingly. Well if it was actually a Shadow because Kuroko still wasn't sure what it was but it looked like Shadow. It shook its head sadly and Kuroko smiled kindly.

"Are you a Shadow whisper or something?" Kazuya asked watching as it became domesticated only by a few touches from Kuroko.

"I can control Shadows Kazuya-san; it would be odd if I couldn't control and calm them."

"What's with the 'san'? You're hurting my feelings Tetsu-chan, I feel so distant from you when you address me so formally." Kazuya said wrapping his arms around Kuroko and pretending to cry softly into his shoulder. Not used to the quiet depressed sadness that was so unlike the loud fake tears from his former teammate Kuroko didn't know what to do. "At least address me with a 'kun' if you can't call me by my first name." He bargained watching with satisfaction as he saw Kuroko's resolve crumble.

"Kazuya-kun and Furuhashi-kun then." He said quietly as Kazuya looked up at him –not that you could even tell because of the fringe covering his eyes.

"Good boy." Kazuya said with a smile that lacked its usual malice.

"Tetsu are you absolutely sure that you don't want us to cross dimensions? Because I'm feeling a need to rip his hair out one strand at a time and then peel his skin off layer by layer and -" Tadashi started but was then interrupted by Kuroko who gave a barely noticeable shake of his head as to not alert the others. "He was touching you with his foul hands and speaking to you as if you were -I believe the correct term in this universe is- a 'dog'. I should cut off the hands after exterminating the filth as a warning to any other impure humans." Tadashi thought aloud making Kuroko worry for his team should he ever take back the rule in a fit of rage.

"Are you alright?" Furuhashi asked still stuck in the same position looking Kuroko who had been staring off into space for an unnatural amount of time.

"Huh? Ah, I am fine thank you for asking." Kuroko said patting the Shadow once more before standing up and dusting invisible dirt off his training shorts.

* * *

Please leave a comment if any of the honorifics are wrong, if you have any questions or if I've made a mistake.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm sorry Tetsu." Tadashi apologized as Kuroko made his way home by himself. Tadashi knew that he'd gone too far when he'd made a replica of Kazuya out of Shadows and then slowly and carefully demonstrated how he'd kill him. He couldn't help himself though; the boy was being so rude to _his_ Tetsu.

"It is fine Tadashi-kun." Kuroko replied with a sigh. "Just please don't do it again, not in front of me at least." He pleaded, they were in the middle of practice when it happened and Kuroko felt like he was going to throw up. Hanamiya even made him sit down when he couldn't even open his eyes without going green. Tadashi knew he wasn't completely forgiven just yet but he was still happy as he sat on Kuroko's shoulder in the shape of a teddy bear, swinging his legs back and forth.

"You almost made him throw up, so much for your so-called 'loyalty'~." Shou drawled flying next to Kuroko.

"At least I care about him! You would've just let the foul creature do as he pleases." Tadashi refuted growling.

"I do care about him, but I am more loyal than you because I would follow his orders no matter what. You on the other hand looked ready to jump dimensions and kill the repulsive thing." Shou answered back, bored that he couldn't spend time with _his _Kuro-chan when the other Shadows were around. Despite liking Kuroko so much they hated each other.

"I didn't do anything because he didn't want me to! If he'd given me permission then I would've, but he didn't. Why are you bringing this up when you're obviously on the losing side? And don't pretend that you would've done something because we all know you wouldn't have." Tadashi replied scowling at him.

"How about you two sort this out in our dimension? And make sure Kuroko doesn't see you." Hitoshi instructed as both disappeared leaving small wisps of black smoke behind that were invisible to a normal person. "They never got along too well." Hitoshi commented trying to lighten the mood and make Kuroko feel like it wasn't his fault.

Kuroko hummed in agreement despite his mind being in another place. His thoughts were constantly racing and he found it hard to keep focused on just one. From battle tactics to vanilla sweets to wondering what Mayuzumi's powers are. That thought caught his attention though; Mayuzumi's powers obviously had to be better than his but how? What other powers did he have? Did he even have control over shadows or did Akashi choose someone completely different?

He was so caught up in his theory of Mayuzumi's power that he didn't even notice returning home. "Tetsu?" Ryuu called out when Kuroko was about to walk past his room where he always left his bag before going to have a shower.

"Ah, right." Kuroko muttered walking into his room before he began unpacking his bag.

"I'm back Tetsu!" Tadashi called; a few seconds passed before he flew through the wall to the right of Kuroko and hugged him immediately, as if he was protecting him.

"Stop suffocating him." Ryuu sighed pulling Tadashi off _his _Tetsu before sending him flying through the walls. Shou appeared a few seconds later through a portal in the middle of the room. He floated inside and sat straight on _his_ Kuro-chan's head with a grin that despite made with only happy thoughts would've made a fully grown adult cry out in fear.

* * *

"We have a game in about an hour." Hanamiya announced as the last few members of the team arrived. "They wouldn't normally be a threat apart from the fact that they have one of the Generation of Miracles in their team." He continued as Kuroko looked up curiously from Kazuya's Shadow who he was communicating with.

After he'd finished telling the team the rest of the details and reveling that they'd be up against Yosen with Murasakibara he walked over to Kuroko with a request (that was more like a command) in mind. "Tetsuya." Hanamiya called making Kuroko look up and the Shadow he was conversing with angry. "If you can make their bodies move by making their shadows move, what would happen if you asked a shadow to detach its head?" He asked as Kazuya's eyes widened and he began to inch away only to be trapped since his Shadow was not planning on moving any time soon if Kuroko stayed nearby.

"I'm not too sure Hanamiya; I believe it would have a different outcome considering that one's head is normally quite hard to simply 'detach' whereas limbs can be easily moved." Kuroko said focusing his attention back on Kazuya's Shadow as to not irk it. "I would like to test the theory out though." He added and just when Kazuya was about to start shaking in fear he continued. "On a plant of some sort, I don't to hurt anyone." He said and Kazuya felt like he was going to collapse in relief.  
As Hanamiya and Kuroko both walked outside to find a suitable test subject Kazuya swore he heard Hanamiya mutter _'such a shame' _under his breath. He shivered in fear before walking over to sit with Furuhashi and the others soon continuing his practicing.

* * *

"I think something small to begin with." Hanamiya suggested as Kuroko nodded in agreement before sitting down next to a dandelion. He mumbled something as he gently tapped the earth where its shadow was twice. The flower bent and swayed slightly, it would have been normal if not for the fact that there was no wind at all. Then it bent down slightly with Kuroko raising his hand the rest of the way to greet it. The Shadow happily slipped into his hand along with the flower with its stem resting in his palm.

Kuroko gave an almost smile before he spoke very quietly. "Can you please help me? If it is not too much trouble of course." Despite the flower not being able to talk, verbally or mentally, Kuroko somehow understood the nonexistent words and let a full smile grace his face.  
"I was just curious as to what would happen if you detached your flower, what would happen to its physical form?" Kuroko sat for a moment before nodding understandingly until a second later when the Shadow of the flower broke off from the rest of it. The physical flower however remained attached and only one of the shadows had broken off, the Shadow from the other dimension.

Kuroko sat there for a moment, only blinking at the odd sight before saying a quiet '_thank you'_ and standing up after gently letting the flower go so it did not droop. He only walked three steps away with his back to Hanamiya, simply needing to process the information.  
Hanamiya stood up after a moment and walked over to Kuroko who was now muttering.

"What is it?" Hanamiya asked, looking down curiously at his teammate. It didn't matter how high his IQ was, he had no idea what just happened and he was finding that he did not like the unfamiliar feeling at all.

"I know it didn't affect the flower's physical form -as far as we could tell by only watching- but what would it feel like if we did it to someone who was capable of feeling pain? What would they feel?" Kuroko asked, still deep in thought as Hanamiya also pondered, now understanding the situation slightly better.

"Why don't we test it out on someone then?" Hanamiya asked, a devious smile slipping onto his face. Kuroko turned to face him and at that very moment, they looked almost like angel and devil. Complete opposites.  
One pure, white and uncorrupted while the other was tainted and blackened by the harshness of humanity.  
You would never be able to guess who the angel was and who the devil was though, because outer facades can be deceiving, but lies cover up the small cracks in their masks.

"I think we should. The question is, who?" Kuroko replied, shocking Hanamiya with his willingness. He expected Kuroko to at least put up a fight; maybe Kirisaki Dai Ichi's ways were finally influencing him?  
The two thought about it for a moment, no one that was of importance in case the effect was bad, and no one who would get them in trouble in case something went wrong.  
Who to choose indeed . . .

"What about someone from the third string?" The taller asked, looking down at Kuroko for affirmation. He gave a nod after a moment of hesitation and they both walked inside, heading to the third string gym and hoping that their training hadn't finished yet.

* * *

Please message me if there are any mistakes.

I would like to get the reader's ideas on what the paring for this story should be as I currently have none. Please leave a comment, review or message me with your answer. Please take note that even if one paring does win I might not go with it, the pairing might not fit with the story line or I might just not be able to write that pairing.(You can also choose for there to be no pairings if you wish and choose side pairings).


	7. Chapter 7

While reading another fan fiction I realized that I had been a using a mixture of given names and family names for the Kirisaki Dai Ichi team. I had been using Hara Kazuya's and Yamazaki Hiroshi's given names instead of their family names. In future I will be using their family names as I do not want to address them incorrectly.

* * *

"Listen up, we need a helper for today's practice in the first string gym." Hanamiya announced. The entirety of the room looked over before stepping back, none of the helpers ever came back quite the same after 'practicing' in the first string gym. Everyone knew that they just needed someone to experiment on but Hanamiya liked to keep up appearances no matter how unnecessary they were. Hanamiya sighed when no one volunteered before pointing to someone and motioning for him to follow them out. He poor second year was shaking in fear thinking, '_why of all people was I chosen?'  
_Hanamiya however did have a reason; he'd seen this second year tormenting and bullying _his_ Tetsuya and now was the perfect time to get his revenge.

When the trio returned to the gym and all eyes turned to them, Seto, Hara and Yamazaki all grinned with unhidden savage glee when they saw the third string player whilst Furuhashi only smiled slightly and walked over.

"What 'training' are we doing today?" Hara asked, barely managing to hide his excitement. While it was petrifying to be on the receiving end of Hanamiya's power, he loved watching others writhe in pain and scream out in desperation for it to stop.

"We are just testing out a theory using Tetsuya's power." Hanamiya responded, having trouble restraining his own eagerness, a blood curdling smile stretching on his face when the second year and Kuroko weren't watching.  
In their distraction, Kuroko had sat down on the floor and managed to get the second year to do the same without having to use force. Kuroko wasted no time, not waiting for the others before signaling for Shadow of the other boy to detach his arm.

An ear-splitting scream rang throughout the gym, attaining everyone's attention. The screaming continued in a steady rhythm until it dissolved into broken cries, whimpers and small shrieks.  
Hanamiya watched in morbid fascination, unconsciously walking forward to inspect the scene from another angle as if it would explain what was happening. His arm was still very much attached and no bones looked to be broken, but never the less the boy was still yelping and holding his arm as if horrible pain was coursing through it.

Kuroko watched, unperturbed by the screams, trying to figure it out much like his captain. Kuroko sighed before motioning for the Shadow to re-attach his arm.  
The spectators were jolted out of their unmoving stupor when the boy -Sato Hideki was it?- stopped crying and looked down at his arm. He lifted and lowered his forearm cautiously, as if it would fall off with one wrong movement. He wiggled his fingers experimentally before realizing that he was too close for comfort to the Phantom who'd caused so much pain. He looked around the room and thought _'why the hell not?'_ the third string member quickly went to knock Kuroko out before running out but he was stopped by an unknown force.

His arm was stuck in midair, only 10 centimeters from Kuroko's face. Kuroko however didn't even bat an eyelash; all he did was speak, very quietly.

"For your sake I suggest that you don't do that." Kuroko's eyes didn't leave the others face, as if he was staring into his soul. The Shadows all hissed, even Sato's who was preventing his physical body from moving.

"Sato, Sato, Sato." Hanamiya started in a mocking voice. "What do you think you're doing?" He continued in a scolding voice, as if he was reprimanding a naughty child.

Sato looked up fearfully at Hanamiya who was now towering over him, a malevolent gaze bearing down on him. Sato tried to retract his arm but it wouldn't budge as if there was something holding it there.

"Hanamiya, please wait." Kuroko cut in, halting Hanamiya from showing Sato what happens to disobedient subordinates. "I need him to answer a few questions." He continued, looking up at Hanamiya with his infamous puppy eyes.

"Fine, just make it quick." Hanamiya replied begrudgingly, his teammates would never let him live it down if they found out he'd been forced to submit by a single look. Kuroko nodded before focusing his attention back on Sato, who at the moment was struggling and squirming in his own Shadow's hold.

"Sato-san, did you feel any pain?" Kuroko asked in such a polite tone of voice Sato was left to wonder whether the boy before him really was the same one who had tortured him only minutes ago.  
Since Sato seemed much too immersed in his thoughts to answer properly, Hanamiya promptly smacked him over the back of his head.

"Pay attention to your superiors when they're talking to you." Yamazaki growled from a few feet away. He -just like the rest of the regulars- was becoming impatient with the lack of violence that was normally brought on when they had a 'helper'.

"Superior?" Sato spluttered in indignation. "I'm a second year and the brat is a first year, I'm his superior!" He yelled in embarrassed anger, how dare he be treated this way -and by a first year of all people!

"Did . . . did that lowly, inferior, obnoxious, foul-" Tadashi started, his voice rising every second but his rant was cut off by Akira.

"-Just call Tet-chan a _brat_?" Akira continued, seething, the air around him becoming thick and hot in his anger. Even though he existed in another dimension the air in the gym changed as well, making players near him move away from the inexplicably suddenly sweet, choking air.  
The rest of the Shadows didn't react any better, Tadashi, Shou and Ryuu were trying to restrain themselves from killing Sato in the most painful way possible. Hitoshi was sitting on Kuroko's shoulder in barely repressed rage, shaking uncontrollably in the effort it took.  
Soon the entire gym was scorching hot and the air sickly as Sato looked around fearfully, all of this occurring not moments after he'd spoken.

"I apologize Hideki-chan." Hanamiya began mockingly, suddenly switching to his first name and using a female honorific. "I didn't catch what you just said, care to repeat it?" He added, tilting his head to the side in a show of mock confusion as an olive and bottle green colored energy ball appeared in his palm, buzzing with lethal power.

"Hanamiya, as much I enjoy this, we need to get on the buses for our match." Furuhashi spoke up, pointing to the clock on the gym wall as evidence. Yamazaki and Hara both shot him incredulous looks while Kuroko was desperately trying to calm all the Shadows down while not attracting attention. Seto only sighed in resignation before looking back at Hanamiya as if asking what to do next, he was the captain after all and if they showed up late for the game Hanamiya would bare the weight of the teacher's scolding.

"We will finish this later." Hanamiya decided in irritation, the energy leaving his hands to bind Sato to the floor as it took the form of chains. A choked scream ripped itself out of Sato's throat as the energy burnt away his skin, he immediately stopped thrashing and tried to stop the sobs that wrecked his body as they only caused him to jolt against the restraints.

Hara and Yamazaki both gave Furuhashi scathing looks as they made their way out of the sports center and into the buses. Furuhashi only ignored them in return.

"We were going to be late so please don't blame Furuhashi-kun, and now you can take your time when we get back instead of having to rush." Kuroko said trying to rid the atmosphere of all ill-intentions and anger. Both Hara and Yamazaki turned around in their seats face look at Kuroko who was sitting in the seat behind them with Seto to his right.

"Tetsu-chan is so cute~." Hara swooned, reaching out and running his fingers through cyan hair, a small murmur of 'soft' making its way out of his slightly parted lips.

"Yeah, okay." Yamazaki reluctantly agreed, knocking Hara's hand out of his way as he gave Kuroko's hair a quick ruffle.

"Please don't mess up my hair." Kuroko quietly pleaded but the words were lost before they reached Hara's and Yamazaki's ears. Kuroko then turned to Seto, looking up at him from underneath his eyelashes. "Seto-san, please help. It hurts." He said bluntly, not understanding why a blush quickly spread up Seto's high cheek bones.  
Kuroko then turned back to Hara and Yamazaki as the hands running through his hair had suddenly stopped moving. Yamazaki was trying stop a nosebleed by tilting his head back and Hara was grinning with intentions that should never be spoken aloud or even thought.

Kuroko didn't think much of it and was just happy they'd stopped messing up his hair; he didn't understand why though and chalked it up to Seto doing something because he had asked him to help. "Thank you Seto-san." Kuroko said, once again looking up at Seto, this time with appreciation and admiration.

Not one to let good opportunities go to waste Seto quickly pulled himself together and responded without a beat. "Do I get a reward?" He questioned, leaning closer to Kuroko.

". . . It depends on what kind of reward you want Seto-san." Kuroko responded, beginning to become nervous at the close proximity, a dusty pink spreading along his cheeks.

* * *

Please leave a comment if there are any mistakes or if you have any questions.


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